Judge Gives Transsexual Father Custody of Children in Florida

Published: February 22, 2003

CLEARWATER, Fla., Feb. 21—
A state judge granted child custody today to a transsexual stepfather in a bitter divorce case, ruling that the stepfather was legally male under Florida law, though he had been born female.

The judge, Gerard O'Brien of Pasco-Pinellas Circuit Court, said that the ruling, the first of its kind in the state, affirmed that the stepfather, Michael Kantaras, was the legal parent of his former wife's teenage son, whom he adopted, and a daughter she conceived through artifical insemination during their marriage.

Legal experts have said the ruling could provide a legal definition of sex in the state and give nonbiological parents or stepparents a legal foundation to seek visitation or custody.

''This is an amazing decision, because the judge has overlooked the fact that he's a transsexual and looked at the best interests of the children,'' said Lynne Gold-Bikin, former chairwoman of the family law section of the American Bar Association. ''This is a major victory for alternate lifestyles.''

Lawyers for Mr. Kantaras's former wife, Linda, had argued that the marriage was invalid because Mr. Kantaras was not legally a man when the couple applied for a marriage license in 1989.

Judge O'Brien said in his 809-page ruling, however, that under Florida law, ''there is no statutory requirement that the applicants shall prove their gender.'' He said the law ''clearly provides that marriage shall take place between one man and one woman. It does not provide when such status of being a man or woman shall be determined.''

Judge O'Brien reached his decision more than a year after the three-week custody trial. He had said a ruling would probably take several months.

In his ruling, which also included a divorce decree, Judge O'Brien noted that a court-appointed custody evaluator had determined that Mr. Kantaras, 43, was the better parent and that Ms. Kantaras, 34, had tried to turn the children against him. The judge awarded her ''liberal visitation rights.''

''I'm so relieved,'' Mr. Kantaras said after the ruling. ''Now my kids and I can get on with our lives in peace.''

Mr. Kantaras was born Margo Kantaras in 1959. He had a sex- change operation in Texas in 1986 and legally changed his name.

When he and Linda Kantaras married in 1989, she knew he had been a woman. Her son, from a previous relationship, was adopted by Mr. Kantaras as an infant, and their daughter was conceived with a sperm donation. The children are now 13 and 11.

The couple's marriage began to dissolve in 1998 when Mr. Kantaras became involved with another woman.

Mr. Kantaras's lawyers did not immediately return a phone call for comment today.

Judge O'Brien's ruling was hailed by national gay and lesbian advocacy groups as a groundbreaking decision in favor of transsexuals, particularly in a state that had banned same-sex marriages and barred gays from adopting children.

''To our knowledge, this is the first transgender marriage case in the U.S. in which extensive medical evidence was presented, giving the court a full and fair opportunity to really understand the contemporary medical consensus about transsexual people,'' said Karen Doering, one of Mr. Kantaras's lawyers and a staff lawyer for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.